


Flight Song

by JANJANBERRY



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Alternate Universe - Guardian Angels, Memory Loss, Minor Violence, Multi, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-22
Updated: 2018-07-18
Packaged: 2018-11-03 14:48:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 19,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10969464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JANJANBERRY/pseuds/JANJANBERRY
Summary: After picking a fight he was guaranteed to lose, Church meets his guardian angel. Determined to find out more, he tries to find a way to see her again and gets much more than he bargained for.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> my friends, they beg me to update my other fic. i laugh, opening a new word document and beginning Yet Another fic. named this after a song my choir did that i almost cried while performing so if you like choral music you should look it up.

There was a bitter chill in the air as the wind howled between the tall buildings. It made Church shiver as his back hit the ground. His glasses fell not too far, cracking on impact against the pavement. A swift kick to his ribs made him groan and curl into a tight ball. His attacker seemed determined to get him to beg for mercy, but his stupid pride wouldn’t let him.  
Why couldn’t he just keep his mouth shut? Why did he always have to make some quip about everything? Al it ever seemed to do was get him into trouble.  
Another kick to the stomach interrupted his thoughts. He could taste blood from his split lip leaking into his mouth and mixing with the blood coming from his nose. He felt like he might vomit just as he heard the sweet voice of his savior.  
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” A coarse shout rang from outside the alleyway. He could barely make out the silhouette of a woman grabbing his attacker by the back of his collar and throwing him against he wall. It was too blurry to see her face, but from what he could see it almost seemed like she had jet-black wings coming out of her back.  
While she pushed his attacker to the ground and watched him scramble away, Church grabbed his glasses and struggled to get them back on his face with shaking hands. The large crack on the right lens gave him double vision of the stranger before him.  
She wore a leather jacket with two long slits in the back for the sleek, crow wings that were spread to block the entrance. He almost didn’t believe his eyes. He must have hit his head or something, because people didn’t have wings.  
She turned around, her feathers still ruffled from the fight, and walked towards him. “Are you okay?” She asked, extending a hand.  
He hesitated before accepting her offer and being pulled to his feet. “Y-yeah. I’m fine.”  
“Good, that means I can yell at you without feeling bad.” She looked rather inconvenienced by saving him. “Learn to keep your mouth shut. It’ll make both of our lives easier.”  
That took him by surprise. “Wait, how do you know-?”  
“I’m your guardian angel. I know when you do stupid things because it usually means I have to fix it.” She looked him over. “Get yourself home safe, okay? No more getting confrontational to strangers who bump into you.” She had to reach up to ruffle his hair before turning to walk out of the alleyway.  
“Hang on a second! I didn’t even get your name!” He called after her.  
She looked over her shoulder to answer him. “The name’s Tex. I’ll see you around.”  
Tex rounded the corner, but when Church tried to follow her, she was gone. He wanted to thank her for saving him, and maybe find out more about her. He looked around, trying to see where she went, but the only indicator she had ever been there was a black feather laying on the ground. 

When Church got to the house he shared with a few others, he was unsure in any of it had even happened. He held the feather she’d left in his hand, running his fingers over the soft, black plume to remind himself that she was real. He walked in the door and was immediately handed a baby.  
“He starts crying every time I set him down and my arms need a fucking rest.” Tucker made sure Church was holding his son properly before flopping down on the couch. “What happened to your face?”  
“I got in a fight.” He started swaying to keep the baby from getting upset. “And I think I just met my guardian angel.”  
“What? Did you hit your head or something?” He raised an eyebrow.  
“No, she was real, look.” Church awkwardly handed Tucker the feather.  
“A feather? This just looks like a regular bird feather.”  
“When was the last time you saw a bird that big in this city?”  
Tucker rolled his eyes. “Okay, I believe you. The giant bird lady kept you from getting your head smashed in.” His voice dripped with sarcasm. “How about you tell that to the nice people at the hospital? We’ll show Junior what happens when you go around being an asshole.”  
“Very funny, but I’m being serious.” He sat down next to him, turning his head to keep Junior from grabbing his nose. “I really saw her.”  
Junior’s face twisted into a frown, and he looked like he might cry.  
“Let him grab your face, Church.” Tucker told him. “And why do you get a guardian angel? I could use a guardian angel to make diaper runs.”  
Church groaned. “My face hurts, though.”  
“I don’t care, just let the kid grab your face.”  
“Fine.” He turned to look at Junior who immediately grabbed on to Church’s nose. “I fucking hate you, Tucker.”  
“That’s nice.” Tucker stood and got Church a damp paper towel. “Here, wash the blood off your face.” He said before handing it to him and flopping back down on the couch.  
“So how was your day?” Church carefully wiped the blood away wherever Junior would let him.  
“Same as yesterday, just baby stuff all day. What the hell happened to my life?”  
“You had a kid.”  
“Not my fault, okay?” It was kind of a touchy subject.  
“I know, I know, I’m just saying that’s why you’re inside all the time. Maybe we should get one of the neighbors to babysit tonight and you and I can go get fucking smashed.” He kind of missed going out on the town with Tucker. Things were simpler when it was just the three guys in the house. Junior had complicated life quite a bit.  
“I don’t know… He gets upset if I even set him down for too long.” Tucker wasn’t too sure he was ready to leave Junior with someone else.  
“Come on, you just put him to bed, have Doc keep an eye on him, and we’ll go to a bar.” He just wanted a drink. “Maybe you can finally prove all your big talk about picking up girls.”  
“Dude, I could get ten chicks if I just walk around the park with Junior. Chicks love babies.” He always got attention when he whipped out the stroller.  
Church rolled his eyes. “Yeah, and they all think you’re married.”  
“No, they think _we’re_ married.” Tucker corrected him.  
“Whatever, do you want to go drinking or not?” He winced as Junior tugged on his ear.  
“Fine, but you’re paying.  
“Jackass.”  
“It was your idea.”  
“Alright, just don’t get anything too expensive.”  
“Cheap beer only, got it.”  
Junior was getting tired of listening to them and decided to it was a good time to cry. Church handed him off the Tucker. “Your kid, your problem.”  
“God dammit… call Doc and get him to babysit, we’ll go out as soon as Junior goes to bed.” Tucker got up and headed toward his room. “I can’t wait until I can get my fucking life back…” He grumbled.  
Church leaned back and looked at the feather still in his hand, twirling it between his fingers. There was a terrible idea hatching in his mind, but he’d have to wait until he was drunk enough to do it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shoutout to the person who makes so many lovely comments on my fics. red, you make me smile for like, at least ten minutes every time i see one of your comments. it makes my day.

Church was on his third beer, and getting closer to being drunk enough to get himself into trouble. Tucker was trying to talk to a girl, but his heart was more in the long island iced tea in his hand than in the conversation he was having. For all the talk he did beforehand, he wasn’t really putting much effort into picking up anyone. He was just drinking to get drunk as quickly and efficiently as possible without tasting any of the alcohol.  
Some time around midnight, Church and Tucker stumbled out of the bar into the parking lot.  
“You sure you wanna do this?” Tucker slurred. “Cuz it sounds reeeaaally fuckin’ stupid.”  
“That’s the point,” Church’s glasses were practically hanging off his face. “I do somethin’ stupid and she’ll show up.”  
“But what if she doesn’t?”  
“Then, uhhh, I guess I’ll die.” Maybe he hadn’t thought this through all the way.  
“You’re a fuckin’ idiot.” Tucker told him. “Let’s jus’ go home. I’m too drunk to drag your body out of the street.”  
“No, but you gotta meet her… She was so pretty… and she was super strong.” He was determined to see her again. “Lemme know when you see a car- Shit!” He tripped off the edge of the sidewalk, and right into the waiting arms of a woman in a leather jacket.  
“That’s it, I’m taking your drunk ass home.” She said, helping him get his balance again.  
Tucker looked like he might pass out. “Holy fuck, dude, she’s real!”  
“I told you so.” Church was leaning on Tex. “Hey there, buff angel lady.”  
“Didn’t I tell you earlier not to do any more stupid shit?” Her feathers were raised, making her wings look bigger than they were. “Who’s your friend here?”  
“The name’s Tucker, Lavernius Tucker. But you can call my the man of your dreams.” He made an obvious wink at her and drew shaky finger guns.  
Tex was silent for a moment. “I’d rather not. Now come on, I’ll walk you two home so you don’t get yourselves killed.”  
Church didn’t really register most of the walk, he was too plastered to really pay attention to anything other than the way Tex’s wings arced protectively around both him a Tucker. The feathers that occasionally brushed against him were unexpectedly soft, so in his delirious state he almost wanted to grab her wings and curl up in the gentle plumage. However, every time he reached out to touch them, she would pull just out of his reach.  
“Stop that.” She scolded him after his third try.  
“I jus’ wanna touch them.” He whined.  
“Maybe when you sober up. Humans have a tendency to pull on things they shouldn’t.” She said as she used one of her wings to keep Tucker from walking off the sidewalk. “It’s like how babies try to grab everything they can get their hands on.”  
“Oh.” He knew how that felt. “Sorry.”  
“Just ask next time.” She wasn’t particularly in the mood to be poked and prodded by a drunk nerd, though he seemed fairly harmless in his intentions.  
The walk home was fairly short, but by the time they got home Tucker had all but passed out. It took Church a couple tries to get the key in the door, and almost got to turning the knob before a frazzled Doc opened the door with Junior crying in his arms. “Thank goodness you’re home.”  
“What did you do to my kid?” Tucker slurred, reaching out for Junior.  
Tex held him back. “Drunk people don’t get to hold babies. I’ll take the little monster.” She carefully lifted Junior out of Doc’s arms and into her own. “You two go to bed.”  
As Doc walked away, too exhausted to ask any questions, Tucker started getting a bit testy. “Hey, I didn’t say you could-“ He would have kept going, except Junior stopped crying as soon as she started rocking him slowly.  
“You were saying?” She let Church lead the way though the door, tucking her wings in so she could get through.  
Tucker didn’t make it past the living room, just collapsed face first onto the couch and started snoring while Tex lulled Junior to sleep.  
She took a moment to put the baby to bed before returning to drag Church from the chair he’d sunk into. “Come on, lardass, let’s at least try to get you into a bed before you pass out.”  
“Fiiiine…” He groaned, struggling to his feet. “Try not to wake up my other roomie.”  
“I’ll do my best.” She really was trying her best. Their cramped house was hard to get around in, even with her wings folded close to her body.  
It took a supportive arm around him to keep him vertical, but she eventually got him through the hall and into his room. As soon as he was close enough he tipped over onto his bed. He seemed to be out cold, but as soon as she turned to leave, he spoke.  
“Stay.”  
It was a very simple request. Stay for a little while, probably answer some questions when he woke up, nothing too challenging. It wouldn’t be hard to grant his request; after all, it was her job to make sure he was safe.  
Tex only hesitated at the word before walking out of his bedroom and turning off the light. “Goodnight, Church.” She said before closing the door behind her.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i promised my friend i'd help fill up the tuckington tag so guess what here come the gays

“Church! Church! Wake up!”   
Caboose’s excited knocking pounded on Church’s head. “Go away, Caboose.” He groaned, pulling a pillow over his face.  
“Church, it is important!” He insisted.  
“If you leave me alone I’ll buy you the cookies you like.” Church mumbled from under the pillow. The knocking stopped immediately.  
He sat up and rubbed his eyes. His head felt like it was in a vice, and his mouth was drier than the desert. The very little light streaming into his room from behind the curtains was too bright for his tastes. Everything was awful, but he had to get up and be a human being today so he changed into some vaguely acceptable comfy clothes and stepped out of the bedroom and into the mess that was their living room.   
For a moment he thought he was dreaming when he saw Tex crouching on a kitchen chair, her arms resting on her knees to support her head. She was perched carefully, but seemed to show no signs of losing her balance or her legs growing weary. Her wings twitched in her sleep, as if she was dreaming about flying.  
Caboose came up behind Church, scaring him shitless when he spoke. “This is the important thing. I did not ask Santa for a bird lady, and I am pretty sure it is not Christmas.”   
After Church’s mini heart attack, he turned and looked up at Caboose. “She’s… she’s just a guest. It’s not Christmas.”   
“Is it Hanukah?”  
“No.” Church shuffled into the kitchen and rummaged around in their bin of pill bottles for something to stop the headache. He eventually found the bottle he was looking for and took as many pills as he could without killing himself. “Has Tucker left for work yet?”   
Caboose nodded.   
“Okay, hungover baby duty… no problem.” He grumbled. “We’ll go grocery shopping when I’m not feeling like shit.”   
“Yay! Can we get ice cream?”  
“Sure, why not.” He grabbed an ice pack from the freezer and held it to his head before shambling to Tucker’s room to keep an eye on Junior.

Tucker’s hangover eased throughout the day, though it did make it hard to focus at work. As he was walking to his car, he heard something rustling in the dumpster he was passing. Normally he would have walked by a bit faster, but the area seemed littered with oversized feathers very similar to the one Church had shown him to prove that Tex was real. Cautiously, he approached the source of the sound and peered into the stinking green dumpster.   
Amongst the garbage and soiled boxes was an unconscious man. His hair was blond, much like Tex’s, but his didn’t seem natural. He was laying on top of a beat up pair of grey wings that were splayed atop the trash. The crushed boxes and broken glass beneath him led Tucker to the conclusion that he probably crashed there and got knocked out.   
Against his better judgment, he called Church to figure out what to do.”  
“What do you want?” There was the sound of something plastic hitting the floor in the background followed by what was probably Tex trying not to curse out a child.   
“You’re never gonna guess what I found in the dumpster.”   
“I swear to god if it’s another couch we are not bringing it home. It’s in the dumpster for a reason.”  
“No, it’s a guy.”  
“Tucker, we’re not kidnapping a homeless man.” Church sighed.  
Tucker groaned. “No, he’s like Tex. He has wings, I think they’re like, pigeon wings or something.”   
There was some indistinct murmuring on Church’s end, some shuffling, and then a less familiar voice. “You say you found an angel?” Tex asked.  
“Yeah, do you know him?” Tucker glanced at the unconscious man. “He’s got bleached blond hair, freckles, some scars, and grey wings.”  
She thought for a moment. “That sounds like someone I know. Bring the little shit over here. Poor kid’s probably exhausted.”   
“Got it. One pretty boy angel coming right up.” Tucker said before hanging up and attempting to retrieve the angel from the trash. It was a hassle, since Tucker had to have been at least half a foot shorter than him and hardly able to even get up to the dumpster in the first place, but eventually he got him out from the disgusting bags that were about to make him lose his lunch. Fortunately, no one was out and about to see him half drag a seemingly dead, winged man to his car parked nearby. He managed to get him into the back seat by removing Junior’s car seat and cramming him in however he could.   
The drive home was uneventful apart from the occasional sound from Tucker’s passenger. The beat up old car was too small for him to lie in the back, so he was awkwardly curled with his wings sticking out wherever there was room. It was a fairly short drive, though, and he didn’t seem to be waking up any time soon.   
Church was waiting outside in sweatpants, a stained t-shirt, an old bathrobe, and a harness that was holding a sleeping Junior to his chest. Tex was next to him, presumably to see the other angel.   
Tucker opened the door, catching his passenger before he fell out of the car. “Can we keep him?” He joked.  
Tex took a quick look at the angel, her feathers puffing up. “Oh crap… looks like the poor kid’s got a broken wing.”   
Tucker looked at her. “Kid?”  
“Well, he’s not a kid anymore. He was a lot younger when I met him. Looks like the years haven’t been too kind to him.” She tossed him over her shoulder and started walking towards the house. “He’s probably about your age now.”   
Tucker and Church followed her into the house and to Tucker’s room where she laid the angel face down on his bed. She looked him over carefully. “Do you know any good veterinarians?”   
The two looked at each other. “We know a medic.” Tucker suggested.  
“Medic? Aren’t those usually only in the military?” She replied, raising an eyebrow.  
“He wasn’t a very good medic.” Church added.   
Tex sighed. “The shitty medic will have to work.”   
“You’re an angel too, why don’t you fix him?” Tucker asked.  
“You’re a human, why don’t you go around fixing broken bones?” She said as she rolled her eyes. “One of you go get the medic.”  
“Dibs!” They both shouted at once.  
“You have to take care of your son.” Church said, taking junior out of the baby harness and handing him to Tucker. “I need to get out of this house before your kid drives me fucking crazy.”   
“You bastard, you know I can’t say no to this little cutie pie.” Tucker kissed his son’s forehead as he started waking up. “Go tell Doc he has to come back, even if you have to drag him.” He sat in the chair in front of the trash heap that was his desk. “I’ll keep an eye on the trash angel.”  
“His name’s Washington.” Tex said.  
“Whatever.” Tucker was paying more attention to Junior who was grabbing on to his dreads.   
Tex shook her head and went out to the living room, followed by Church. Tucker didn’t mind being left alone. As much as he complained about having to take care of Junior pretty much around the clock, he adored his son more than anything else in the world. Even though his life wasn’t quite going as planned, at least he had one surprise that made him happier.   
As he sat there playing with his child, Washington slept as if he hadn’t rested in years.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun fact: the word document i use for this fic is titled "trash man in his trash can.docx"

When Wash finally woke up, he went into panic mode. He didn’t know what had happened or where he was. He almost thought he’d been kidnapped or something until he saw the man sleeping in the chair next to him. He was safe. For now.  
He tried to sit up, but winced when all his muscles begged him not to move. He was going to need to rest before he could do anything.   
Tucker heard the shuffling and opened his eyes, uncurling himself from the uncomfortable office chair. “Good morning.” He yawned. “You got fucking obliterated yesterday. I found you in the dumpster after you crashed.”  
Wash didn’t say anything, just stared up at Tucker.  
“I guess you could say I’m _your_ guardian angel.” He joked.  
He remained silent. Nothing made sense. The last thing he remembered was flying to escape… something. He couldn’t quite remember what, just that it was bigger, faster, and meaner than he was.   
Tucker took notice of his lack of response. “Hey, are you okay? You’re kinda quiet.”  
Wash nodded.   
“Good. You seemed pretty banged up.” He resisted the urge to make a joke about the word bang. “I’m glad you’re feeling alright.”   
That was when Tucker smiled. Wash’s ragged feathers puffed up a bit as a slight blush spread across his face. It had been a long time since he’d seen a real smile; he’d almost forgotten what they looked like. It almost felt like he was seeing sunlight for the first time.   
“Where am I?” Wash finally asked.  
“You’re in my bed. Not quite what I expected when I asked for an angel in the bedroom.” He joked.  
Wash didn’t dignify Tucker’s comment with a response. “Who are you?”  
“Lavernius Tucker, but everyone just calls me Tucker.”   
He was silent for a moment. “Why does everything hurt?”   
“Tex says you were probably attacked by something, or you just passed out and crashed.”   
Attacked. He was starting to remember what had happened. Something attacked him. No. Some _one_. “South.”  
“What?”  
He slowly sat up, struggling to fight the pain. “I was attacked by another angel by the name of South. We were trying to get away from… something, and she knocked me out of the sky so she could get away. Damn traitor.” He gripped the sheet, balling it up in his fist. “I should have know she’d stab me in the back.”   
Tucker hesitantly put his hand on Wash’s shoulder, but he pulled away. “Don’t touch me.”   
Tucker took his hand away immediately. “Sorry. I should have asked first, but you seriously need a chill pill. You’re safe now, so loosen up, relax a bit so you can recover.”  
“I’m not safe. I can barely sit up by myself. I can’t defend myself like this.” His feathers puffed up more.   
“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you. Tex can help too, and I’m sure Church is good at something useful.” Tucker said with confidence. “You’ll be perfectly safe while you’re healing up.”   
“You? You don’t seem like a fighter.” He looked Tucker over.  
“I’m not. I’m a lover, not a fighter, but I’m not bad with a sword.”   
“You’re going to protect me with a sword.” He deadpanned. “Forgive my lack of faith in you.”  
That hurt a bit. “Hey, I’m just trying to help. I’ve got a sick ass sword and I wanna use it for once.” He crossed his arms.   
Wash thought for a moment. “I’ll stay until I can get around by myself. Hopefully I won’t need your protection.” He didn’t like the idea of depending on someone, especially so soon after someone he was supposed to be able to trust had tried to use him as a distraction for whatever was chasing them.   
“Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of you.” He assured him.   
Wash didn’t respond, just laid down again and accepted what he believed was his fate as Tucker’s new pet. 

“So how do you know this guy?” Church asked, handing Tex a cup of coffee.   
“We were in a flock together.” She said before taking a sip.  
“Did he always look like he hasn’t slept in a year?” Church stirred his own coffee.  
“No, but when I knew him he was just a teenager. He used to have such nice wings, and now he looks like those city pigeons who have probably been hit by a bus a few times.” She sighed.   
“So what do you think happened?”   
“Well, last I saw him he had gone crazy. Something in his head just snapped from the stress. Unfortunately, he wasn’t the only one.” She took another sip of her coffee. “But that’s a story for another time.”  
He sat down on the couch, inviting her to sit with him with a gesture of his hand. Tex remained standing in front of him, however. She didn’t seem to be too keen on getting close to him.   
“I hope Tucker’s okay in there by himself. If this guy did go crazy, then I’m not sure it’s a good idea to leave Tucker alone with him.” Church looked into his coffee cup.   
“Wash just crashed, he’s about as dangerous as guy who just got hit by a car. If he tries to attack your friend he’ll probably just end up on the floor.” She wasn’t worried about Tucker. It wasn’t really her job to worry about anyone except herself and Church.  
He sighed. “I just worry about him, you know? He’s got a lot on his plate, and I think taking care of an injured angel might be too much for him to handle. I mean, he’s already taking care of Junior, working part time, and helping Caboose take care of himself. I’m not sure how much more he can take, even with my help.”   
“Tucker isn’t quite as aloof as he seems.” She noted.  
“Hell no. He can act like a careless douchebag, but there’s more to him than the shallow asshole who makes stupid innuendos.” Church had been living with Tucker for years; he’d seen him at his best and at his worst. He knew what he was like when he thought no one was watching, or when he was too tired to put up a persona.   
Tex just continued to sip her coffee. She had just assumed Tucker was just some asshole Church lived with. Perhaps she had judged him too quickly. “Why doesn’t he have Junior’s mother help out?” She tried changing the subject.  
“That’s, uh, that’s complicated. Let’s just say Junior’s other parent isn’t in the picture.” It wasn’t his place to explain, especially since only he and Tucker knew the whole truth of what had happened.   
“Oh.” She shifted uncomfortably. “Well, I guess I’ll be helping out now.” Now that she’d spent some time with Church, it was clear that he needed her more often than when he was in peril.   
“You mean you’re staying?” His eyes lit up. “We don’t really have much extra room, but you can sleep wherever.”  
“I’ll just take the chair.” She motioned to the kitchen chair where she had perched the night before.  
“That can’t be comfortable.” He had a hard enough time bending over to get the newspaper, he couldn’t imagine spending the whole night crunched up and hunched over on a chair.  
She shrugged. “It’s just how I sleep.”   
“It’s weird.”   
“So is having wings.”  
“That’s fair.”  
The two sat in relative silence for a while longer until Tucker finally emerged from his room. “Washington’s fine. Cranky as fuck, but fine. He says he was attacked by another angel who he was traveling with.”   
“I guess that explains why he crashed. I don’t really have much of a choice in staying now that Wash might have a target on his back.” She set her coffee cup down on the cluttered table. “I’ll be back with some stuff in a few minutes. Don’t answer the door for strangers and don’t let Wash leave. Understood?”  
“Understood.” Church responded. “Tucker can keep his new boyfriend out of trouble.” A grin spread on Church’s face as Tucker whacked him.   
Tex rolled her eyes. “Just try not to die while I’m gone.” She said before heading out the door.   
“He’s not my boyfriend Church.” Tucker said, crossing his arms.  
“He’s your type.” He said, smugly sipping his coffee.  
“Shut the fuck up.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my art final is done and i can finally return to society and write stuff

Tex ended up coming back a bit later than expected with a duffel bag stuffed with her belongings. They were mostly weapons and dark clothes, but there were also some of the protein bars she practically lived off of and some first aid supplies. When she walked in the door with her stuff, Wash was sitting at the kitchen table with the others, an untouched plate of food in front of him.   
There was an empty seat available for her next to Church, so she tossed her stuff onto the couch and sat down. “Sorry I’m late.”  
“You didn’t miss much, except for Caboose eating all the fortune cookies.” Church said with a mouth full of chow mein.   
Tucker was trying to keep Junior entertained while holding his head up to keep from falling asleep. “Look, at mister bunny, Junior, look at the bunny and don’t start crying.” He yawned, waving a plush rabbit in front of the high chair half-heartedly.   
After a few minutes of watching Tucker struggling to stay awake, Wash stood and put his hand on his shoulder. “Go to bed. I’ll take care of the kid.”  
“I’ll be fine.”   
“Go. To. Bed.” Wash said, more commanding this time.  
“He’s got a good point, Tucker.” Church added. “Get some sleep, I’ll make sure he doesn’t try to eat Junior.”   
Tucker groaned. “Fine…” He reluctantly got up before leaving a kiss on his son’s forehead and shuffling off to bed.   
Wash took the little rabbit plush and held it up for Junior to see. He squealed excitedly and grabbed at Wash’s finger, ignoring the stuffed animal.  
“I think he likes you. He usually only does that to Tucker.” Church said while offering Tex some Chinese food.   
“Oh.” He wasn’t sure what to make of this tiny human gripping his finger and babbling happily. He hadn’t spent much time around babies in his life. “Why is it making those noises?”  
“He’s happy, which means he’s not crying, and that’s a good thing for all of us.” He took a bite of his food. “So just keep doing whatever keeps him happy.”  
Wash was fascinated. For some reason this little wriggling ball of laughter liked him, and he honestly had no idea why. He had done nothing to earn this, but Junior seemed content just grabbing his finger and babbling.   
Tex watched the two of them as she took a couple bites of her food. Maybe it was good that Wash had crashed into Tucker’s life. She could remember the naïve eighteen year old, who used to preen his feathers whenever he was nervous, and turn bright red and puff up whenever he was flustered. He looked like life had chewed him up and spit him out now, even though it had only been a few years since their flock had fallen apart. Maybe being around these seemingly carefree humans would help him relax.   
Eventually, after the others had gone to sleep and Junior had been put to bed, Tex and Wash were alone at the table. There was a heavy silence draped over them.  
“About Church…” Wash eventually spoke up.  
“Drop it.” Tex cut him off before he began.  
“So he doesn’t know?”   
“No. He doesn’t remember anything.”  
“And you haven’t told him.” Wash looked at her.  
She met his eyes. “What am I supposed to tell him? That his life is a lie? He’s happy here, I say let him be happy.”  
“But he doesn’t even know who you are.” He kept his voice down to avoid waking anyone up.   
“He knows I’m his guardian angel, and that I’m going to protect him, even if that means protecting him from the past.” She was struggling with the volume much more than Wash was.   
“Doesn’t it hurt, though?”  
“Back _off_ , Washington.”   
And just like that their conversation was over. It was probably the longest conversation the two had ever had. After more crushing silence, Wash stood and walked down the hall to Tucker’s room, leaving Tex alone to perch on her chair and curl up. Wash was right. It did hurt, but in her mind it was worth it.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm getting my whole d&d group to watch rvb and it is only fueling my motivation to write. i am unstoppable.

“SON OF A BITCH!”  
The morning wasn’t starting out particularly well. Tucker’s shout – which was quickly followed by a loud thud and Junior crying – ended up summoning the rest of his housemates into his room.   
Church was the first to go through the door and turn on the lights, followed by Tex. He was geared up to fight when he saw Tucker sitting in his bed; back to the wall, eyes wide, and his sword in his hand pointing at Wash on the floor. “What did you do?” Church growled to the bewildered angel.  
“He pulled a sword on me!” Wash squeaked back, pointing to the strange blade in Tucker’s hand.  
“He was fucking crouched at the foot of my bed when I woke up, of course I grabbed my sword. I keep it by my bed for a reason, asshole.” Tucker responded.  
The sword in question caught Tex’s eye more than the scene before her did. It had two long blades made of an iridescent metal that curved around the horizontal handle and came to two parallel points. It was envy at first sight. The thing was a sight to behold, and as Tucker wielded it, it seemed to glow with some kind of power.   
Church was more focused on defusing the situation. “Wash, what the fuck were you doing in Tucker’s room?”  
“I was trying to sleep, and Tex took the living room.” He was desperately trying not to get stabbed for saying the wrong thing.  
“Bullshit. You weren’t asleep.” Tucker still had his sword pointed at Wash.  
“I said I was trying.” He slowly got to his feet. “Look, I’m sorry, I should have asked before I slept in your room.”   
“Yeah, you should have.” Tucker wasn’t ready to let this go. “Just get out.”   
Wash’s ruffled feathers flattened against his wings as he walked out the door. Only once he heard the click of the doorknob did Tucker lower his sword.   
Church was the one to pick up Junior and start soothing him while Tex “comforted” Tucker.   
“Can you stop staring?” Tucker said as he sat down on his bed.   
“Where did you get that sword?” She hadn’t taken her eyes off of it.  
“I found it.”  
“You don’t just find something like that lying around.”   
“I just found it, okay?” He held the sword a bit closer.   
“Where?” She took a step closer.  
Tucker glance around nervously. “Uh, Church, your crazy girlfriend is scaring me.”  
“She’s not my girlfriend.” Church’s face turned a bright shade of red. “Tex, lay off for a bit. Actually, go make sure Tucker didn’t break Wash’s heart. The last thing we need around here is something else crying.” He was desperately trying to get Junior to calm down, but the flapping hands and loud crying only seemed to get worse.   
Tucker set the sword down to take Junior, which was when Tex snatched it. She was satisfied for only a moment, because the beautiful twin blades that had enticed her earlier had seemed to disappear into just the handle. “What the hell?”  
“Oh yeah, I forgot to mention it does that.” Tucker said as he took the wriggling baby.   
She carefully examined the metal she was left with. “How do I make the blades come out?”  
“It only works for him. Trust me, I tried.” Church said as he headed out of the room.   
Tex followed, still completely enthralled by the sword. She would have taken it for herself if Tucker hadn’t swiped it out of her hand as she left. “What do you know about Tucker’s sword?” She asked once the door closed behind them.  
“Not much, I think it’s some kind of relic or something. I guess it kinda just… chose him. I’m not really sure how it works.” He told her as he walked towards the kitchen. “He found it in an abandoned building when we went on a trip with the Reds.”  
“The Reds?”  
“Our neighbors who live across the street, the ones in the big red house. They call us the blues because we live in a blue house.” He rummaged around in the fridge for something to eat. “We’ve got a rivalry that’s been going on for as long as I can remember.”   
“How long have you been living here?” He couldn’t have lived in this house for more than a few years.   
“Let’s see… I think it’s been four years now? I don’t really remember.” He pulled out a carton of milk, sniffed it, then took a swig from it and put it back in the fridge.   
“What do you mean you don’t remember?” She had been afraid to ask anything about memory, but curiosity got the better of her.  
“I mean I don’t remember. I slipped in the kitchen a few years back and I never really remembered everything. My old housemate found me and told me everything he could.” He leaned against the counter and crossed his arms. “I could only remember my name and the name of some girl that Butch said used to be my girlfriend. I kind of pieced the rest together from what he told me and little bits I’ve remembered over the years.”   
Tex was silent for a moment. There was so much she wanted to tell him, but she couldn’t. It was best that he didn’t know anything, just kept believing what he knew to be true. “What was her name?”  
“Allison. Her name was Allison.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm probably going to be posting more often during the summer because i have more time on my hands. will i ever end up updating anything else? we'll see.

Wash was sitting in their backyard on an old metal bench, facing what might have once been a garden. The flowerbeds were all grown over with weeds and grass, but there were still a few blooms amongst the chaos. He was staring off into space when he felt someone sit next to him. He assumed it was Tucker and cast his gaze aside.  
“Good morning Mr. Washingtub.”  
Wash turned and saw Caboose smiling next to him. “Morning.”  
“You seem very sad.” Wash had only just met Caboose last night, but it was nice to have someone who wasn’t currently pissed at him.  
“I did something stupid. I haven’t been around others for so long I guess I forgot how to act around them.” It was a bitter reminder of the isolation he’d suffered.  
“It is okay. Tucker does stupid things all the time.” Caboose assured him. “I think he is only mad because he is scared.”  
“Scared of me?” That didn’t really make him feel better.  
“Pssh, no. Tucker is scared of lots of things, like people waking him up, people who are mean, republicans, people grabbing his wrists, public bathrooms...” Caboose counted off things Tucker avoided. “Oh, and clowns. He is very afraid of clowns. I am very afraid of clowns too. I don’t think anyone likes clowns.”  
“I don’t really like clowns either.”  
“See? I don’t think you are scary, washing machine. I think we will all be friends.” Caboose smiled brightly at him, and Wash couldn’t help but smile back a bit.  
“Thanks.” He figured Caboose would eventually get his name right, so he didn’t really bother correcting him.  
Before their conversation could continue, Tex poked her head out of the back door. “Wash, I need to talk to you.”  
Caboose perked up more. “I like talking.”  
“Alone. Sorry, Caboose.” She stepped outside and stretched her wings, the sunlight reflecting off the sleek black feathers.  
“Oh, it’s okay, you know, Church likes talking to me. I will just go talk to him.” He said as he stood up and headed towards the kitchen where Church was making breakfast.  
Tex sat next to Wash, looking around before speaking. “That stunt you pulled with Tucker might end up either good or bad for everyone.”  
“It wasn’t a stunt, I didn’t know where else to sleep. I know you like your priva-“  
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Look, that sword he pulled out he some kind of energy shit going on. It seems like the kind of thing that _he_ was so desperate to get his hands on.” Her gaze wouldn’t stay in one place, like she was worried someone was watching them.  
“It does… but I don’t remember anything about a sword. It might be magical or whatever, but it’s not one of the artifacts that _he_ went to such great lengths to find.” There was a certain vengeance in both their voices whenever they referred to the same man.  
“You know what he did to get his hands on the rest of them, even if that sword has nothing to do with the rest of it, Tucker might be in danger if he finds out about it.”  
“Or if Maine finds out about it.”  
“I’m not too worried about Maine.” She was more scared for what would happen to Church in all of this.  
“You should be. He’s the reason I’m here. South was the one that fucking backstabbed me, but if Tucker hadn’t found me I’m pretty sure Maine would have torn me to bits to get what he wants.” Wash shuddered at the thought.  
“Just make sure nothing happens to Tucker. That’s your job now, isn’t it?”  
“Yeah, and you go ahead and keep lying to Church.” He rolled his eyes. “I’ll keep Tucker safe, but only because I owe him that for saving me.”  
Tex glared at him. “You’ve still got one wing that isn’t broken, but go ahead and keep talking if you’d like to change that.” She growled.  
He took his cue to shut up and stood from the bench. “You know, I think I’m gonna go inside. I should probably apologize to Tucker anyways.”  
“You go do that.” She looked like she was ready to murder him right up until he shut the door behind him, then slumped over and put her head in her hands.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm dragging one of my friends into which gives me an excuse to rewatch it with them, which will hopefully help my writing.

Tucker was sitting on the couch with a still crying Junior in his arms. He was already completely exhausted and currently thanking god that he didn’t have work. When Wash came in, he saw his opportunity to get some peace and quiet and took it.   
He thrust the baby into Wash’s arms. “I know you’re here to apologize but if you want me to forgive you just please make Junior stop crying. Please, please make him stop crying.” Tucker looked like he might start crying too.   
“Oh…. Okay…?” Wash took Junior, holding him at a distance at first. “What am I supposed to do?”  
“Well, first you need to hold him right. Support his head… uh, here just let me show you.” Tucker said as he guided Wash’s arms around the squirming baby.   
Suddenly, Junior wasn’t crying anymore. The second he was safely in Wash’s arms he just stopped as if nothing had happened.   
“You’ve got to be kidding me…” Tucker was stunned.  
“What, is this good? Did I do this right?” Wash wasn’t sure what he did.   
Tucker just nodded, then flopped down on the couch. “You’re now officially forgiven, just keep him from crying.”  
“Don’t human babies usually have two parents?” Wash was staring at Junior, both confused and enchanted by the little bean that was now grabbing his shirt and chewing on his own hand.   
Tucker visibly tensed up. “Well, Junior only has one parent.”  
That made things a bit awkward. “Oh, I’m sorry for your loss.”  
“Don’t be. That guy was an asshole.” It took a moment for them both to realize what he’d just said.   
They looked at each other for what seemed like ages, not sure what to say to that. Tucker was embarrassed, and Wash was confused once again.   
“Pretend I never said anything and I’ll let you sleep in my room.”  
“Deal.” Wash definitely didn’t want to share the living room with Tex. 

Later that night, things had settled down. Tucker and Wash had an arrangement where Wash could perch on the office chair as long as he wasn’t facing Tucker, and Tex had free rule over the living room after everyone went to bed. Things seemed to be working out for everyone.   
Church was trying to go to sleep, but his mind wouldn’t let him rest. He couldn’t help but think about what he’d told Tex earlier. He had never thought much about his accident in the kitchen, just accepted it as part of his life, but there was so much missing from it. Why didn’t anyone he knew before try to contact him? Why hadn’t his parents shown up? He couldn’t remember anyone from before, just a name and what he’d been told was part of his past. Why had he just accepted it?  
Eventually, he pulled on some sweat pants and shuffled out into the living room, not even bothering to throw a shirt on. He was intending to go to the kitchen, but stopped when he saw Tex sitting on the couch and carefully picking through her feathers for bits of lint or dirt that might have gotten caught in them during the day.   
“Can’t sleep?” Church said, taking a step closer.   
“Nope.” She kept preening, though she didn’t seem to be finding anything. He was pretty sure she had been doing it all night and just kept trying to find something.   
“Can I ask you something?” He sat down next to her, which was enough to get her to look up from her grooming.  
“Go ahead.”   
He thought for a moment about how he wanted to go about this. “You’ve been my guardian angel for a while, right?”   
“Yes.” She raised an eyebrow. “Is that all you wanted to ask?”   
“No, it’s just… I wanted to know if you know anything about my life before I forgot everything. I really don’t remember much, and I guess I just never thought about how little I know about myself.” He knew that she most likely didn’t know, but it was worth a shot.  
Tex was quiet for a few moments. “I… I know you had a girlfriend, Allison, who loved you very much. She would do anything for you, but one day she had to go somewhere, and you couldn’t go with her. It broke her heart to leave you behind, but she had to.”   
“Do you know where she is? Or any way I can contact her? I want to know what my life was like.” He looked in her eyes, filling her with guilt.  
“No. I don’t. I’m sorry.” She didn’t lie to him, but she still felt horrible. “But I know she still misses you.”   
“Then why hasn’t she come back?”   
_She has, Church, she has come back._ She wanted to tell him, but it would be impossible to explain without spilling everything. “I don’t know.”   
He sat in silence for a moment. “Do you remember anything else? Anything about my parents or my friends?”   
“No. I became your guardian angel right before Allison left,” she lied, “but I wouldn’t look too far into it. As far as I could tell, your parents were gone before I showed up, and your only friend at the time was your roommate.”   
“So I didn’t have anyone?” The look in his eyes almost made her confess.   
She considered her response carefully. “Not really.”  
There was a long silence between them.   
“Well that’s just _great._ ” He sneered.  
“What?”   
“I could have just hit my head that day and died and it wouldn’t have mattered. Who would have cared, my roommate? He died of a heart attack and both Tucker and I just fought over who would get his stuff. We weren’t friends.”   
“It would have mattered to me.” She tried to assure him.   
“Yeah, because it’s your job to keep me alive.” He rolled his eyes and stood up. “Thanks for the talk, Tex, I think I’ll go lay awake for a few more hours until someone drags me out of bed.” He turned to leave, revealing two identical scars between his shoulder blades – one on either side of his spine.   
The sight made her feathers stand on end as she watched him slink back to his room, looking more depressed than before.   
She’d been trying to protect him from the past, not make his present miserable, but it seemed like she was only making things worse. Maybe Wash was right, she should just tell him the truth, but he probably wouldn’t believe her.   
After some debating with herself, she decided to go out and clear her head in the skies where no one could bother her. She put her coat on and slipped silently out the door, making sure to grab the spare key Church had left on the counter for either her or Wash to use.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm having a lot of fun writing this fic because i actually have stuff planned rather than winging it for all eternity like with most of my writing. i'm really glad it's summer and i can just write to my heart's content.

In the morning, Tex wasn’t in the living room when Tucker came out with Junior to make breakfast. He thought nothing of it until Church came out in his bathrobe.   
“Oh shit…” He grumbled.   
Tucker set Junior in his high chair. “What?”  
“I scared her off.” He dragged his hand down his face.   
“Have you _seen_ Tex? I don’t think she’s scared of anything.”   
“I know, but… I sorta… snapped at her last night.” He leaned on the counter next to Tucker. “I was having a hard time sleeping, so I was asking some questions, and I got pissed at her because she answered them and I didn’t like it.”   
“You do that a lot, you know, bitching at people because of your shit.” Tucker was shuffling around, rummaging for some baby food.   
“You’re not helping, Tucker.”   
“Well, the house key is gone, so she’s probably gonna come back at some point.” He found a jar and checked the date. “Maybe ask Wash where she went. He might know where she likes to go.”   
“I’ll talk to him when he wakes up.” He said, starting to head back to his room.   
“Wash is awake, I’m pretty sure that guy never sleeps.” Tucker was trying to get Junior to accept a spoonful of the mush, but he swatted the spoon out of his hand.   
“I’ll talk to him now, I guess. Good luck getting Junior to eat that crap.” Church said as he went into Tucker’s room instead of his own.  
“Wait! Don’t leave me, help me out, dude.” Tucker called after him.  
Wash was still crouched on Tucker’s office chair, eyes open with deep purple bags underneath them. He looked up at Church briefly before letting his eyes glaze over again.   
“Hey, Tex left last night, and I think it’s because of something I said, do you know where she might be?” Church said, trying to ignore how damn creepy this whole situation looked.   
“Check the local bars.” Wash said. “She’ll come back, but she’ll probably be drunk.”   
“Are you sure she’ll come back?”   
Wash looked him over. “She’s pretty fond of you, she’ll be back.”   
“She is?”  
“Yes.”   
“Why?” He was genuinely confused. He was awful, why would anyone like him?  
“You think you’ve just met her, but she’s known you for a long time.” Wash knew far more than he was letting on.   
“Because she’s my guardian angel?”  
“Let’s go with that.”  
“What’s that supposed to mean?”  
“It’s supposed to mean I’ve been trying to sleep for the past two days so leave me alone.” Wash grumbled.  
“Fine. I guess I’ll just wait for Tex to come home.” He left Wash to his feeble attempt at sleep to join Tucker in the kitchen again.  
He was greeted by Tucker, sitting on the floor and surrounded by baby food that had either been flung, whacked, or spit out by Junior. “Just fucking shoot me…” Tucker groaned.   
“You know I couldn’t hit you if I tried.” Church said, carefully stepping around the mess and looking into the fridge. “Oh, and you need to do something about your pet pigeon.”   
“Wash isn’t my pet.”  
“Whatever, you need to make him less miserable. He looks like he hasn’t slept in a week and it’s only been two days.” He pulled out some leftovers from dinner the night before.  
“Well what do you want me to do? I’ve got a kid to take care of who won’t fucking eat, keeps crying for no reason, shits himself constantly, and still can’t walk or talk. Not to mention I also work part time, and help your sorry ass with everything else in this fucking house.” He laid down on the floor.   
Church took a bite of food. “You need a vacation.”   
“Can’t afford it, and I can’t leave Junior alone with anyone for more than a few hours. You saw what he did to Doc.”   
“You could dump him on the reds for a few hours and help me look for Tex.”   
“She’ll come back, Church. You don’t need to get all worked up because your girlfriend took some time for herself.”   
“She’s _not_ my girlfriend.” He groaned.  
“Then why do you look at her like that?” Tucker looked up at him on the floor.   
“Like what, Tucker?” He rolled his eyes.  
“Like she put the stars in the sky, or some other romantic crap.”   
“I do not look at her like that.” He huffed as he crossed his arms.   
“You totally do. I can’t believe you’re so into her and you’ve only known her for what, three days? Come on, dude. Doesn’t that touchy-feely bullshit usually take a couple months?”   
He shrugged. “I don’t know, I just feel…”  
Tucker sat up immediately. “Woah, woah, woah, you’re not about to start talking about your feelings, right?”  
“Oh suck it up, Tucker, I held your hand while you had a fucking baby.” He said condescendingly.  
“Fine…” He groaned. “I’ll listen to you bitch about your problems.”  
“I’m not bitching.” He bitched.   
“Whatever, just get it over with.”   
“Quit being such a baby.”   
“Do you want me to listen or not?”  
“Fine.” He took a deep breath. “I just feel like I’ve know Tex for longer than I’ve known her. Like, I know we just met, but I feel like I’ve known her my whole life. It’s weird, and I don’t really think I’m describing right, but I just know her, you know?”   
Tucker just gave a blank look as he shook his head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”   
Church sighed. “Maybe I met her before I forgot everything or something.”  
“Maybe it has to do with the fact that she’s your guardian angel.”   
“Well do you feel like you’ve known Wash a long time?”  
“Fuck no. I don’t even know his real name.”   
“It’s David.” Church responded.  
“What?”  
“His name’s David.” He repeated.  
“How do you know?”   
Church though for a moment. “You know what? I have no fucking clue. I guess I just kinda know.”   
“Weird… Maybe you did meet Tex and her, uh, friends.” They were both pretty confused. “Well, I listened to your feelings crap, which means you have to feed Junior.”   
“I didn’t agree to that!”  
“Too late, I’m gonna take a nap.” He said as he got up off the floor. “Good luck.”  
“Hey, make Wash take a nap too. And a shower. You know what, just knock him out and spray him with the hose.” Church grabbed another jar of baby food and a spoon.   
“Whatever.” Tucker quickly disappeared behind his bedroom door, leaving Church to deal with Junior.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me yesterday: I'm gonna write today! *proceeds to play skyrim for 6 hours*  
> at least i managed to finish the chapter today

Tucker was met with the thousand-yard stare of a very exhausted Wash when he first walked in to his room and flopped down on his bed. “You know, you have to sleep eventually.”   
“What do you think I’m trying to do?”   
“You could at least close your eyes.”   
Wash paused for a moment. “I don’t want to.”   
“Why?”  
“…You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”   
Tucker looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “I found a man with wings in a dumpster, I think I’m past the whole ‘not believing’ stage of all this. You could look me in the eyes and tell me Bigfoot is real and he’s your boyfriend and I’d fucking believe you after all this angel bullshit.”   
“Big… foot…?” Wash only seemed to get more confused the longer he was around Tucker.   
“Nevermind, just tell me about your fear of closing your eyes.”  
Wash hesitated as he shifted his position on the chair so he was sitting rather than crouching. “I… had this… friend. We weren’t really that close, but he had something that someone else wanted and they tortured him for it. After a while it… it drove him crazy, and he ripped his own wings off. I was there when it happened.” There was a good portion of the story that he was leaving out, but Tucker didn’t need to know any of that.   
“So… seeing that really fucked you up.”  
“Yes.”   
“And now you can’t close your eyes without seeing it over and over again.”  
Wash nodded.  
Tucker let out a sigh. “I know how that goes… Just try to get some sleep before you pass out and fall off the chair.”  
“Wait, what?”  
“Get some sleep, or at least take a shower or something.” Tucker repeated.  
“No, the part about knowing what it’s like.” Wash specified.  
“Too late, taking a nap now.” He quickly turned over and pulled the blanket over himself.  
Wash got up and stretched, his legs sore from perching for so long. Maybe it would be best to take a shower, especially since he hadn’t had a proper one in so long.   
He stripped off his dirty clothes and stepped into the small shower. His wings barely fit inside, but he managed to squeeze in without aggravating the injured one. The water was ice cold, but he was too exhausted to care.   
Weeks of grime washed off with the cool water and swirled down the drain as he stood in sort of a trance. He didn’t even realize that the water was starting to heat up and fill the shower with steam.   
It took his a while to snap out of it and actually start cleaning himself. There was no shortage of supplies, and it wasn’t particularly hard to tell who owned what. There was some basic “men’s” shampoo that was probably Church’s, a kids’ shampoo for Caboose, and something homemade for Tucker who seemed to take care of his dreads as meticulously as Wash used to keep his feathers when he was younger. He opted for Church’s shampoo and started working it through his mess of hair. It was much longer than he remembered it being, but he hadn’t had the chance to really look at it for a while.   
There was nothing he could use on his feathers, except maybe Tucker’s shampoo, but he decided it wasn’t worth the risk. Eventually he just ended up taking the gauze off of his wing and let the water do what it could.   
The steam was starting to get to his head, giving the remainder of his shower an almost dreamlike quality. He eventually turned to water off and stepped out, shaking his wings to get the water off and grabbing a towel to dry off. His eyes were starting to drift closed as he wrapped the towel around his waist and promptly fell too the floor. He didn’t even notice he was on the ground until Tucker came to check on him.   
“What happened?” He said, trying not to stare at Wash’s bare back.   
“I think I fell asleep.” Wash didn’t bother moving.  
“No, you almost passed out.” Tucker grabbed Wash’s hand and started dragging him off the floor. “Hold on the that towel, because I’m making you go to bed.  
Wash was surprised at how strong Tucker was, and how easily he got him off the ground. “Do you have any clothes I can borrow?”   
“I have some old pajamas you can use.” Tucker said as he led him back into his room. He then dug around in his dresser for the old PJs. “Here, see if these fit.”   
Wash didn’t even put his arm up to catch them until they had already hit his chest and fallen to the floor. Sleep deprivation had really taken its toll on him. He bent over to get it while Tucker very obviously found something else to look at.   
“How do I look?” Wash said once he had pulled them on. The old Batman pajamas suited him well, though they were a little short and a bit tight in the crotch – not that Tucker was complaining.   
“Uh, good?” He wasn’t really looking very much at the pants. “Now get in my bed.”  
“E-excuse me?” Wash’s face turned bright red.   
“Not like that. Maybe you’ll sleep better when you’re not crouching like some kind of chair goblin.”   
“It’s natural for us to perch like that, birds do it all the time.” He huffed.  
“Sure, it’s also natural to lay down, people do it all the time.”   
Wash was too tired to argue, so he flopped face down on the bed, followed by Tucker.   
“Uh, what are you doing?” He asked.  
“Taking a nap.”   
“Oh, uh, okay.” He turned his head away and started drifting off.  
It was nice to get some sleep for once, especially since he’d gotten a total of maybe ten hours in the past week or two. He was too tired to dream, but that wasn’t really a bad thing. Most of his dreams weren’t even his, just painful memories given to him by an old friend.   
A few hours later Tucker awoke in a tangle of limbs and feathers. At some point Wash had draped his arm over Tucker who ended up clinging to him like a koala bear to a tree. He was carefully tucked under Wash’s wing, which covered him like a big feathery blanket. It was kind of a strange feeling, but it was clear it was a protective gesture rather than a possessive one, which Tucker appreciated. After a few moments he decided it would be impossible to move without waking Wash up from his much needed nap, so Tucker just closed his eyes and went back to sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have been busier than previously anticipated, but i managed to finish the chapter even though i scrapped half of it part way through and completely changed things up.

Wash woke up in the late afternoon, still entangled with Tucker. He stretched out his wings, but winced as pain shot through the injured one. He hadn’t fully registered that Tucker was next to him until he started waking up too.  
Wash immediately shied away, but was still caught in Tucker’s koala grip. “Uh, shit, sorry.”  
Tucker let go once he felt Wash’s discomfort. “It’s fine. I think we both move in our sleep.”  
“I just didn’t mean-“  
Tucker cut him off. “It’s fine, Wash.”  
“But Caboose said you were afraid of people waking you up.”  
He looked at him, slightly confused for a moment. “Yeah, if someone’s standing over me to wake me up like Caboose used to do, I’ll scream, but this is fine.”  
“Oh.”  
Tucker sat up and stretched. At least it was nice to know that Wash had the sense and respect to be worried about crossing the line. Honestly, Tucker found that way more alluring than his toned muscles. Not that he found him attractive or anything. That would be ridiculous. 

By the time Church went to bed that night, Tex hadn’t returned. His worry wasn’t enough to keep him from sleeping, though, especially since he had hardly gotten any sleep the night before.  
In his dreams he could see Tex sitting next to him, her hand resting on top of his. They were in some room he didn’t recognize; yet it felt oddly familiar. There was a mix of black and white feathers strewn about. She was smiling at him, saying something he couldn’t quite make out. Her wings were tucked in, and a large dove’s wing was arced around her. It was almost as if he too had wings.  
The dream was strange to him, as it felt more like a memory that something his imagination had conjured up. This moment had already happened, but he couldn’t remember ever living through it. He was absolutely positive he didn’t have wings, and Tex had never mentioned meeting him before the day in the alley.  
Their fingers laced together as the scene shifted. Tex, the wings, and the room around him melted away. Now concrete walls surrounded him, the scars on his back burning like fire. Red blood stood out on the white feathers drifting around him. He was on his knees, looking at this floor. When he looked up Wash was staring at him in horror, but he was younger and his feathers looked softer and cleaner. Church stood up and stumbled towards him, extending a shaking hand and leaving a smear of blood on his cheek as he placed his hand on the side of Wash’s head.  
Horror turned to pure terror in Wash’s eyes, but the pain was gone. Church felt lighter, almost empty of everything. Somehow it felt like a great weigh had been lifted off his shoulders and placed onto Wash, who was now crumpled on the floor and covering his ears to try and block out whatever Church had done to him. Screaming filled his head, a mix of Wash’s and his own coming from somewhere else in the room.  
Church awoke with a start, bolting upright in his bed. He looked at his hands in the dim light and was almost surprised when he didn’t see any blood. It all felt so real that it took him a moment to realize he wasn’t in another dream. The two scars on his back ached, but that wasn’t unusual. They had been there as long as he could remember and always hurt from time to time.  
He pulled on his bathrobe with trembling hands and went out through the living room to get a strong drink from the kitchen. He hadn’t expected to find Tucker and Junior up at this hour. “What are you two doing?”  
“Junior didn’t want to sleep.” Tucker looked as tired as usual. “What are you doing up?”  
“I had a weird dream.”  
Tucker raised an eyebrow. “Creepy weird, sexy weird, or just weird?”  
“I’m not really sure. Tex was there, and so was Wash.” He reached into the liquor cabinet and pulled out the cheap whiskey that often ended up in their glasses after a long day.  
“So it was sexy weird. Was it just them or was it a threesome between you guys?”  
Church took a swig straight from the bottle. “I can’t believe you’re a father. No, it wasn’t sexy. They weren’t even in the same parts of the dream.”  
“Then what did happen?” Junior reached out to grab the bottle from Church’s hand, but Tucker distracted him with a toy that had been resting on the counter.  
He sighed. “Well, the first part was actually kind of nice. Tex and I were-“  
“Making out?”  
“Tucker!” He growled. “Just listen, please.” He took a moment to compose himself again before continuing. “We were sitting in some kind of living room, I guess, and there were feathers, not just hers. A lot of them were white, like a dove, or something. The weirdest part was that I had wings like hers coming out of the scars on my back.”  
Tucker was actually interested now. “Huh. Well, what about the part with Wash?”  
“That’s where it gets confusing. My scars were hurting, and there was blood and feathers everywhere, and everything felt… crushing… and I think I did something to him, something horrible, but it made the pain stop, and then there was all this screaming, and then I woke up.” He took another swig. “He looked so young… and the look in his eyes, it was like I had destroyed him…”  
“It was just a dream, though.” Tucker assured him, but he was starting to form his own ideas on the matter. “Try to get some sleep.” He took the bottle from his hand and placed it on the counter.  
“Hey, can I use some of the stuff you use when your scars act up?”  
“Sure, just don’t use too much.” He was watching Junior now.  
“Thanks, and let me know if you see Tex. I have a lot to talk to her about.”  
“Tex is passed out on the couch, she came in a little while ago and just tipped over.” His face lit up as Junior let out a yawn.  
“Oh. Well, good luck getting that demon child to go to bed, maybe I can get some answers out of Tex.” He headed out to the living room, just a bit tipsy from the whiskey.  
Tex was face down on the couch, surrounded by feathers. He wings drooped at odd angles that couldn’t have been comfortable, and her hair that was usually tied back out of her face was a complete mess. “Uh, Tex?” He gently poked one of her wings.  
There was a low groaning noise as she lifted her head, but a drunken grin spread across her face as soon as she saw him. “Hi.” She was clearly plastered.  
“Okay, this was a bad idea.” Church said as he started to walk away, but Tex grabbed his hand.  
“Nooo… stay here and play with my hair.” She whined.  
He hadn’t known Tex very long, but this was extremely odd for her. She wasn’t too serious of a person, but she really didn’t seem like the drunken party girl type. “How much did you drink?”  
“That’s –hic- my lil’ secret.” She giggled at her own comment. “Now come here and play with my hair.” She yanked on his arm, not fully realizing her own strength.  
“Okay, okay…” He sat down next to her, rather surprised when she put her head in his lap and closed her eyes. “Uh, Tex…”  
“Shhhh…” She practically smacked him with a shushing finger that got sort of close to his mouth. “Less talking, more playing.”  
He did as he was told, hesitant at first, but immediately let go of any reservations he had the second he felt how soft her hair was. “Oh my god it’s like silk.” He couldn’t resist running his fingers through it over and over.  
“Angels have soft hair. You have soft hair too.” She mumbled. “I used to play with it aaaall the time, ‘cause it was like a bunny... My lil’ bunny rabbit…”  
“Wait, what?” What did she mean by used to?  
It was too late, though, Tex had fallen asleep in his lap and he didn’t have the heart to wake her up.  
Tucker came out a few minutes later with Junior asleep in his arms, moving as quietly as possible so as not to wake anyone.  
“Tucker,” Church whispered, “Tucker, help, she fell asleep on my lap and I don’t want to wake her up.”  
“Guess you’re sleeping out here tonight.” He said, creeping closer to his room.  
Tex shifted her position, curling up on his legs and letting her wing rest on his face. “Tucker, please, I don’t want to die like this.”  
“I’ll tell the others you died as you lived – being a huge pussy. Good night, Church.” Tucker slipped into his room and shut the door behind him.  
Church looked down at Tex. Though he was a bit scared, he somehow felt more at ease having her so close. Maybe it was just knowing was safe, or that she came back for him. Maybe there was some comfort in being under her wing, or perhaps he was just happy to have someone showing him this kind of affection after a nightmare. “Good night, Tex.” He said with a slight smile as his eyes drifted shut.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> remember what i said about updating more frequently? boy was i wrong. summer is a haze during which time does not exist. has it been two days or two weeks? no one knows.

Tucker was up early as usual, but at least now he had another early bird to keep him company. He was dragged out of bed by Junior’s crying, and after changing his diaper and giving him breakfast, he was too awake to go back to bed.   
Wash wasn’t much of a morning person either. He was drinking coffee straight out of the pot when Tucker came back with a much happier Junior. “You look tired.” Wash noted, taking a sip from the coffee pot.  
“I am.” They both looked exhausted. “I think the only person here who gets enough sleep is Caboose.” He tried setting the baby down, but he started fussing about it the second Tucker started lowering him into the crib. “God dammit…”   
Wash set the coffee pot down and plucked Junior out of Tucker’s arms. “Take a break. You’ve been dealing with him all morning.”   
“I’ve been dealing with him all year.” Tucker flopped down onto the bed. “I cannot wait until he can use the bathroom by himself or get his own food.”  
“If you’re having such a hard time why don’t you hire a baby sitter?” Wash said as Junior grabbed his noise and babbled happily.  
“I don’t have that kind of money. I work part time at a convenience store; I barely make enough money to buy diapers and baby food. Without Church and Caboose’s help I don’t know how I’d be able to do this.” His life for the past two years had revolved around Junior, which made it hard for him to do anything for himself.   
Wash thought for a moment. “I could watch him for today and let you have some time alone.”   
“Wash, do you even know what a baby is?”   
“Of course I do!” He sputtered. “I think I can handle him for a little while. You just feed him or change him when he cries, right?”  
Tucker almost started cracking up. “As much as I’d like to see my son give you a mental breakdown, I think I’ll pass.”   
“I can take care of him.”   
“I’m sure you can, but so far three grown men and a former medic have all been slowly losing our fucking minds over this kid. Do you know how hard it is to feed something that refuses to eat? Or to deal with a kid who will throw their favorite toy and then cry because they can’t reach it anymore? Or how about trying to dress something that wiggles the entire time?”   
“I’m an angel, Tucker, I think I can handle a kid.” Her rolled his eyes just as Junior started crying.   
“Prove it. Find out what’s wrong with him and fix it.” Tucker could already tell what Junior wanted, but he wanted to see Wash try.  
Wash held Junior at a distance. “When was the last time he ate?”   
“A couple minutes ago” Tucker said. “And you’re holding him wrong. That’s strike one.”  
“Uh, okay, is his diaper full?”   
“Give it a sniff.”  
“I’d rather not.”   
“Strike two.”   
“Fine.” After determining that Junior’s diaper was fine, he was stumped. “Is he tired?”  
“He just woke up.”   
“Is he sick?”  
“Nope.”   
Wash was getting to end of his rope. “Alright, I give up, what’s wrong?”   
Tucker took the baby and immediately the crying stopped. “He wants his father.”   
“And that’s why you can’t leave him with people?”   
“Yep. Poor kid gets upset when I’m gone for too long. Sometimes Church or Caboose can sub in, but most of the time it has to be me.” Junior grabbed on to one of his dreads and made happy squealing noises.  
The two sat on the bed, just watching Junior flap his chubby little arms and let out little cooing noises. He was the cutest little thing Wash had ever seen, even if he was just chewing on his own hand and drooling on Tucker’s shirt.   
“Hey Wash, can I ask you something?” Tucker eventually said.  
“Sure.” He didn’t even look up at Tucker.  
“It’s about your friend. The one who… you know…”   
Wash took a moment before answering. “What about him?”  
“What happened to him? Like, did he die or leave or something?”   
“What makes you ask?” His feathers were starting to puff up.  
“Just curious.” Tucker lied.  
“He forgot everything. He had to. And then he disappeared. I heard someone just dropped him amongst some humans and left him to fend for himself. That’s all I really know.” Wash only partially lied back.  
“Oh. Did Tex know your friend?”   
“They were… intimate… I’m not really sure about the nature of their relationship, but i know that they lived together they lived together. She actually tried to save him from what drove him crazy, but she was too late.”   
“Sounds like your friend was into the kinky stuff if he was sleeping with Tex.” Tucker nodded in approval.  
Suddenly the atmosphere of telling the tragic tale was over. “Do you ever think before you say these things?”   
“Not really, it’s kind of a habit at this point.” 

When Church woke up, Tex had somehow strewn herself over him. One of her hands was in his hair; the other was hanging off the couch. Her head was on his shoulder, and her legs were entangled with his. He was afraid to move at first, until the golden mess of hair next to his head groaned and started shifting.   
“Good morning.” He kept his voice soft in case she was hung over.  
“It’s not a good morning.” She pushed her hair out of her face and looked at him. “How did I get here?”  
“You passed out on the couch.”   
“I don’t remember that.” She put her hand to her head. “And why are you here?”  
“You begged me to play with your hair and then fell asleep on top of me.”   
“Did I?” She crawled off of him, whacking him in the face with one of her wings.   
“Yes, you also called me your little bunny rabbit.”   
“I really was drunk… all I can remember was I went out to clear my head, and somehow ended up in a bar…”   
“How’d you pay for all of this?”   
“I hid my wings under a coat and pretended to be interested in some desperate guys who were bitching about how women didn’t like them. They started competing for my attention and buying me drinks. After that it starts to get kinda fuzzy. I think I threw up at some point, maybe twice.” She had to cover her eyes because it was too bright.   
“Taking advantage of lonely guys. Nice.”  
“They were assholes anyways. One kept grabbing my ass, and I almost broke his hand, but I really wanted those free drinks.”   
“You want me to beat them up?” He joked.  
“I’d say you’d get your ass kicked, but these guys were about as wimpy as you are.” She teased him back.   
“Hey, I’m not wimpy, I just don’t know how to fight.” He huffed, crossing his arms.  
“Maybe I’ll teach you when my hangover is gone. Until then, can I take a nap in your room?”   
“Sure.” It would probably be better for everyone if she were out of the way of all the noise and lights in the living room.   
“Thanks.” She put her hand down on his, just for a moment.   
He was suddenly reminded of his dream the night before. “Hey, Tex?”  
“Yeah?”   
He hesitated for a moment. What was he even supposed to ask her? Clearly if his dream was some kind of memory there was a reason she wasn’t telling him anything, and if he brought it up there were no promises that she would tell him the truth. “Nevermind, I’ll ask you later.”  
She just blinked at him before getting up. “Whatever. I’ll see you later.” She yawned as she shuffled towards his room.   
“Yeah, see you.” He was eventually going to have to talk to her. He was pissed that she ran out on him without a word and only came back when she was too drunk to function. He was pissed that she might have been lying to him about his past. Most of all, he was pissed that she was probably someone important in his life, and she had never bothered to come back to him in the years he’d spent with no idea who he really was. But for right now he couldn’t really bring himself to be angry with her. It was hard to be angry with someone who had crawled into his lap and called him her little bunny rabbit.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I L I V E. so i kinda dropped off the face of the earth over the summer, but i'm back now that my life has structure again. maybe i'll get the ball rolling again and get some more chapters up on this thing.

Church was getting ready to leave for work when Tucker came out with Junior strapped to his chest by a baby harness. “Dude, I need to talk to you for sec.”   
“If this has anything to do with chicks I don’t want to hear it from you.” He said, adjusting his tie.   
“No, it’s about something Wash told me.”   
“Fine, but I only have a couple minutes.”   
“Well, Wash was telling me about a friend he had who was banging Tex-“  
“I have lost interest.” He deadpanned.   
“No, there’s more. He said this guy went nuts, ripped his wings off, forgot everything, and then was dropped off somewhere.” It sounded crazy when he put it that way.   
“And what does this have to do with me?”  
“I think you’re that guy.”   
Church rolled his eyes. “That’s ridiculous, Tucker. I’m a human, not an angel.”  
“Prove it.”  
“I don’t have wings.”   
“His friend ripped his off, and you have two scars on your back that just _happen_ to be where wings would be.”   
“I think I would know if I were an angel, Tucker, now quit wasting my time or I’m gonna be late.” He said as he shoved his keys in his pocket.   
“Just think about it. I remember the day I met you, your scars were fucking fresh wounds. Flowers said they were, what, burns or something?”  
“They are burns.” He started heading towards the door.   
“But what if they’re not? What if Flowers lied to you? He was to only person who ‘knew’ you before you lost your memory, he could have told you anything and you would have believed you.” Tucker was coming up with more of what Church wrote off as conspiracy bullshit as he went.   
“What about evidence? You have this whole theory worked out, but you don’t have any evidence. You say I don’t have any proof that I am human, but you don’t have any proof that I’m not.” He opened the door and started walking to the car.  
“I’ll find your fucking evidence, angel boy. Just watch me.” Tucker muttered to himself as he watched Church drive away.

Tucker had to mentally prepare himself for a while before knocking on Church’s bedroom door. “Tex?”  
There was a thud, followed by a groan, and after a few moments footsteps came to the door. “What?”  
“I had an important question.”  
“No, I won’t babysit your demon child.” She almost shut the door.  
“It’s not about babysitting, I’ve got Wash watching him right now.”  
“Then what is it?”   
“It’s about Church.”   
She froze. “What about him?”  
He knew what he said next could easily become his last words. “You knew him before all of this.”   
“I don’t need this right now.” She tried shutting the door again.  
He put his foot in the door. “ Tex, I know what happened. I just want to know one thing.”  
She opened the door and glared at him. “You have _no idea_ what happened.”   
“Can you just answer my question, then?”   
“ _Fine_.”  
He took a deep breath. “Why the fuck are you lying to my friend?”   
She managed to succeed slamming the door in his face this time and locked the door before shuffling back to bed and tipping face down onto the mattress.  
“You can’t avoid me forever! You’re in my house, motherfucker!” Tucker called from behind the door.   
“Suck my dick!” She yelled back before putting a pillow over her head.   
“I’ll wait out here. You have to come out of there eventually.”   
She didn’t respond, as she was trying to get back to sleep.   
Tucker sighed and sat in front of the door. It wasn’t like he had anything better to do, so he just distracted himself with his phone until Wash came out, trying the get junior to let go of a tiny fistful of the soft down feathers that now littered the house.   
“What are you doing?” He asked.  
“Tex won’t answer my questions so I’m waiting for her to come out.” He replied, not looking up.  
Wash sighed. “Tucker, you shouldn’t bug her.”  
He crossed his arms. “I know who your friend is who ripped his wings off. I want to know why she didn’t tell him.”   
“Just give her some space. You don’t know what’s going on in her mind. She lost more than anyone else did that day.” He offered him a hand up. “This is something she needs to work out with him, she doesn’t need you getting involved.”   
“Church is my best friend, Wash, I don’t want some random bird lady hurting him.” He took the hand and stood up.  
“Let them work it out. It’ll be better if you don’t get involved, especially since Tex can get kinda… violent when she’s angry.” He walked out into the living room.   
Tucker hesitated before following. “I guess I’d rather not get murdered, but can you at least talk to Church?”   
“I… I’ll give him a push in the right direction.” Wash didn’t want to get involved either. “To tell you the truth, I understand why she’s hiding it from him, even if I don’t think it’s the right thing to do. It takes a lot of pain to drive someone far enough to forget everything. I think she wants to spare him from remembering all that pain.”   
“I get that, but Church literally has no friends or family because he can’t remember them. He acts like he doesn’t need anyone, but I think he’s kinda lonely without even the memories of friends.” Tucker didn’t want to see his best friend suffering. “Sure, he has me and Caboose, but he’s so grumpy and weird that he tries to keep his distance.”   
Wash just sighed. “If you knew what happened, you’d probably want to keep him in the dark about it too.”


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my naym is russell, my person's a writer, and wen she is working i sit rite beside her, her hands touch the keybord and pet not me, but her atention i love and i very much need, sinse from my spot i've yet to be banned, i sit right there and lik the hand. 
> 
> my dog loves showing his support for my writing by licking my hand while i'm typing, so here is a poem about him. and don't worry i give him belly rubs when i'm not typing.

Tucker wasn’t fully convinced that sitting and waiting while knowing the truth was the best idea, so he dared to prod a bit further into what had happened to Church. “Wash, just stop being weird and vague about all of this. Tell me everything.”  
“It’s not for me to tell. It didn’t happen to me, so I don’t know all the details.” That was pretty far from the truth. Wash remembered it better than anyone.  
Tucker stuck his hand in his pocket and started taking a video on his phone to record what Wash was saying. “Just tell me what you know.”   
Wash sighed. “The basics are that our flock’s leader was obsessed with collecting certain… things. Church was special, and he could actually find these things with some weird angel magic, but he could only do it after a lot of pain. The flock’s leader decided he cared more about his collection than anything else and if torturing someone until they broke was what it took then he was willing to pay that price. Once he wasn’t useful anymore he dumped him here and gave him a fake story.”   
“That’s so fucked up.”   
“Which is why you can’t tell him anything about this.”   
Tucker nodded. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell him.” _Because you just did._ Tucker thought to himself as he stopped recording. He took junior from Wash. “I’m gonna go take him for a walk. I need to clear my head and Junior gets grumpy if he’s been inside for too long.”  
“Oh. Okay. I think I’m gonna try to take a nap.” He yawned and stretched his wings, knocking over the lamp in the process. “I’ll… I’ll fix that.”   
“Yeah, you do that.” He got Junior’s stroller out and strapped him in before heading out. “Just make sure you clean it up before Caboose gets home from work, he likes to walk around barefoot.”  
As soon as Tucker was out of the door he sent the video to Church. If that wouldn’t convince him, nothing would.

Church was filling out some paperwork for something he didn’t really know or care about. He wasn’t even sure what his company did, just that occasionally he had to sign some things and make some spreadsheets. His phone buzzed, momentarily interrupting his music. Tucker had sent his some video, so he started listening to it and kept working. At first having very little interest in what Wash was saying.   
“…Church was special.” Now he was listening. He looked at the dark screen, indicating Tucker had taken this without Wash knowing. Every second it went on was giving him a headache.   
“… You can’t tell him anything about this.”   
Church got up and told his supervisor he wasn’t feeling well – which wasn’t exactly a lie – and went to his car. Just before driving off, he shot a text to Tucker. Something he thought he would never say to him: “holy shit you were right.” 

Church came home completely livid. He marched in the door to find where Wash was sitting at the table carefully gluing the pieces of the lamp together. “You’re home early.” He noted, not looking up from his work until he felt Church’s fist smack into his jaw. “What the fuck!?” His wings puffed up as he recoiled, finding himself on the floor.  
“You _motherfucker!_ ” He growled. “You _knew._ ”   
“What? What are you talking about?” He was confused as usual.   
“You know who I am and you didn’t bother to fucking tell me!”   
The color drained from Wash’s face. Tucker had told him what he said.   
Tex came out to figure out what all the shouting was about, and was surprised to see Church looking so angry. Surprised, and a bit terrified. He whipped his head towards her. “You both knew who I was and you _lied_ to me about it.”  
She exchanged a look with Wash. “Church, calm down.” She took a step closer and put her hand on his shoulder. “Just listen for a moment.”   
He shoved her hand off. “Just get out of my house.”   
“Church-“  
“No, you abandoned me before, you should be fine doing it again.” He hissed. “Now get out.”   
That felt like a bullet to the chest. “Leonard, please.”   
“ _Out._ ”   
For just a few moments she looked so genuinely hurt, but it quickly turned to anger. “Fine then. Come on, Wash.” She pulled him to his feet and headed to the door.   
“Tex, I’m not sure that’s the best idea.” He looked at where Church was glaring at them.   
“He wants us gone, so we’re leaving.” She yanked him out the dooras tears started beading up in her eyes. She wouldn’t let anyone see her cry. As soon as she was outside, she was gone, leaving only a large black feather in her wake as they both took to the skies.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> went from radio silence to two chapters in three days thanks to a long weekend and the motivational powers of ninja sex party

When Tucker came home the house was a mess. Caboose was trying to clean up the living room as best as he could, though he wasn’t really sure where anything belonged. “Church is very upset.” He told Tucker. “He said he doesn’t wanna talk.”  
“Why is everything all… fucked up?” It wasn’t that Church had just started destroying things, it just looked like he had been rummaging through their organized chaos and left it just plain chaos. The only thing that wasn’t a total mess was a pile with Tex’s stuff carefully separated from everything else.  
“Well, Church won’t tell me anything about it, but he kept saying stuff about how everything was new, and that he wanted to find something old. I don’t really get it, and he wouldn’t let me help him.” Caboose looked over a toppled pile of newspapers and set them on the couch. “I’m trying to clean so he won’t be mad that he made a mess when he stops being mad about whatever he’s mad about.”  
“Oh.” He took Junior out of his stroller and carefully picked his way through the mess, trying not to trip over the knocked over fan and the various piles of what Church had looked through. Tucker poked his head into Church’s room. It was very much in the same state as the living room, though Church was nowhere to been seen. He stopped in his own room and set the now sleeping Junior in his crib before moving on the what had been their old roommate’s bedroom.  
Church was sitting in the empty room with a couple boxes, their paper contents dumped onto the floor in front of him. He was rummaging through it, but still couldn’t find what he was looking for.  
“Hey, Church.” Tucker carefully stepped in. “What are you doing.”  
“Nothing, leave me alone.” He grumbled.  
“Church, what are you looking for?”  
“Have you ever noticed how new everything in this house is?” He looked up at him.  
“No, not really.” He sat down next to him, making out what the hundreds of little papers were. “Are these all of Flowers’ receipts?”  
“Every single one. He kept every receipt that ever came into the house. I’ve been looking through them and do you know how old the oldest one is?”  
Tucker was starting to get weirded out. “Uh, how old?”  
“Four years. The oldest ones are all from the same day four years ago, exactly four days before you moved in. Flowers said the two of us had been living here for two years before you moved in, but there’s nothing from before that day.” He kept looking through the receipts, putting them in various piles.  
“This is starting to get really freaky, Church, maybe you should lay down.”  
“I’m fine, but look at what he bought on that day.” He handed a long receipt to Tucker. “Sixteen shirts in my size, a couch, and some random things from a thrift shop, a house’s worth of groceries, about a thousand dollars in various furniture, and a bunch of dishes and cups and silverware, but what fucks me up is that everything he bought on that day is everything that was in the house when you first moved in, except some of my clothes. This place was fucking empty until four days before you moved in, even though he said we’d lived here for two years.”  
“And that means…”  
“That means there’s nothing to prove who I was from before all of this. Nothing. It’s like I didn’t exist until I woke up. I never questioned it. I never questioned any of it, because Flowers made it seem like everything had an explanation. My phone only has his number as a contact because it was new. I didn’t have any family photos because my parents are dead and they didn’t take pictures. I remembered a girlfriend but never saw her because we had just broken up. Everything had a planned explanation and I fell for it because he made my life before seem so miserable before I forgot everything that I never tried to remember. It was all _bullshit_ and I _believed_ it.” He buried his head in his hands. “I had a life I never even knew about and he kept that from me.”  
Tucker put an arm around him. “Well, maybe you should ask Tex.”  
“No. She lied to me too, just like everyone else, and even if I wanted to I couldn’t. She and Wash left.”  
“Wait, what? They _left?_ ” He was surprised.  
“I told them to leave, so they did. Tex dragged Wash out with her and flew off.”  
Tucker’s eyes widened. “Dude, Wash is injured and you kicked him out. Something attacked him out there, what if it comes for him again?”  
“I don’t really give a shit. Tex played me like a fucking fiddle, and Wash didn’t say anything about it.” He seemed to be getting more upset as he spoke. “I’ve spent four years of my life living a lie, and she knew, and she didn’t come find me.” He stood up, sending receipts flying everywhere. “I’m going to bed.” He hated to be vulnerable around others, especially now. “At least I know I can trust you, that’s a start.” He said before heading to his room, leaving Tucker alone in the mess.  
Tucker got up soon after and started heading towards the front door.  
“Tucker! Where are you going?” Caboose asked, looking up from where he was placing the side table back in its usual spot – though it was upside down.  
“I’m going to find Wash and Tex, don’t let Church do anything stupid, and if junior starts crying call doc.” He told him before closing the door.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have discovered the source of my power. when jeopardy is on, i write, and thus you all have alex trebek to thank for this fic.

Tex landed on a rooftop not to far from the house, setting Wash down first before putting her feet on the gravel.   
“Tex, I think we should go back, he’s gonna need your help now that he knows the truth.” Wash told her, trying to rewrap the bandages on his wing.   
“He doesn’t want my help.” She turned away and leaned on the wall surrounding them. “Why would he after I left him stranded for four years?”   
“You didn’t… well, maybe you did, but-“  
“Don’t try to comfort me. I brought this on myself. I brought this on everyone.” She clenched her fists.   
“It’s not your fault, Tex.”  
“I couldn’t save him, Wash. If I could have, both of you would be better off.” She looked out at where a dove landed on a telephone wire. “He’d still have wings, and you’d still have your marbles.”   
“He didn’t blame you for that. I know he didn’t blame you for that. I remember everything, and what set him off wasn’t that you couldn’t rescue him. He chose to forget because he thought you were dead. He would rather lose everything about himself than live with the pain of losing you. That’s how much he loves you.”   
“Loved.” She corrected him. “He loved me, and now he hates me.” She hung her head. “I need a strong drink.”  
“Just go back and try to talk this out. He needs someone there to tell him what happened.” He knew trying to convince her would be futile, but he would at least make an effort.   
“You can go back if you want, I’m going to a bar.” She got up on the ledge and spread her wings.   
“Wait, Tex! I can’t fly, how am I supposed to get down from here?”  
She shrugged. “Climb.” She jumped and soared off, leaving Wash behind.   
He watched her go, sighing as something landed behind him and cast a menacing shadow over him.   
“Fuck.” 

Back at the house, Church tossed and turned in his sleep. This time he was sure his dream was a memory, since it felt so familiar. Tex was standing across from him, looking as if she’d fought through an army before she had found him. She had tears in her eyes that she was holding back.   
“Oh, hi.” He heard himself greet her. “Hey, do you know where I am?” The scars on his back burned.   
“You don’t know?” She took another step towards him.  
“No… Well, I don’t really know who I am, or who you are.” He looked around. “Do you know who I am?”  
“Your name… your name is Leonard, Leonard Church.” I seemed like it pained her to say it.   
“That’s a funny name, and who are you?”   
“My name is Allison.”  
He paused for a moment. “Allison… that name sounds familiar. Do I know you?”  
She nodded. “We used to be together.”   
“Oh. That’s a shame. You seem nice. Why did we break up?”  
“It’s complicated, but right now you have to come with me. I’ll explain on the way.” She reached out her hand and spread her wings.   
He hesitated. Why was he hesitating? “I’m sorry, I’m just… I’m really tired. I think I’m gonna get some rest.”  
“Oh. Okay.” Her face fell, but she managed to look strong. “Goodbye, Leonard.”  
“Huh, for some reason I hate goodbyes.”  
“I know.” She walked out, just as he woke up.   
He was in his room, scars still burning on his back. “She tried to save me…” he mumbled to himself, putting his hands over his face. 

Tucker ended up wandering around the neighborhood calling out for Wash and Tex. One person questioned it, but he brushed it off by saying his dogs had gotten out. Eventually he found a building with an unusual amount of feathers around it. That had to be where they were, since Wash seemed to leave a pile of down feathers everywhere he went. “Wash! Wash, are you up there?” He looked for an access ladder and managed to climb up.   
“Wash?” He looked out on the empty rooftop. There was nothing at first glance, but on further inspection, there were far more pigeon feathers than normal, and a few drops of blood in the gravel. The strangest thing, however, was a large white feather with little black spots. It was longer than his arm, and definitely didn’t come from Tex or Wash. Something else had gotten to them first.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's been a while. i semi abandoned this, always intended to work on it, and then my laptop that contained everything i had ever done on a computer since i was six finally bit the dust while trying to boot minecraft. rest in peace my old friend, you died for a good cause. fortunately i had backed up all my important word documents to google drive. i then made my friend read this fic and they screamed because i left them on a cliffhanger. figured i should pick this back up again and get my ass back in gear with the motivation of further terrorizing my friends.

Tucker came back home with the feather in hand, finding Church cleaning up Caboose’s cleaning up. “I have some bad news.” He said, setting the feather down on the table and lending a hand.   
“I have some bad news too.” Church sighed.   
“You first.”   
“I fucked up.”  
“You’re just now realizing this.”   
Church shot a glare at him. “Shut up.” The two flipped the side table right side up and started putting things back together. “I drove Tex off thinking she was lying to me for her own gain, but I _remembered_ something.”  
“No shit, what is it?”  
“I’m about to tell you.” He rolled his eyes. “I remembered that she tried to save me. Whatever they did that made me lose it, she tried to protect me from that, and I think that’s what she was still trying to do.”   
Tucker took it in for a second. “So… you’re not mad at her anymore?”  
“No, I’m definitely still mad, but I get it now, and I think I can forgive her.”   
“How is this bad news?”  
“I just drove her away. The person who cared enough about me to try and stop what was happening to me. I told her to leave and now she’s gone.” He looked around. “This living room is a fucking mess.”  
“Caboose tried his best to clean up.” Tucker added.  
“Yeah, I know.” He nodded and put his hands on his hips. “At least he tries.”   
“Is it my turn for bad news?”   
“Go ahead.”  
He grabbed the feather off the table and held it up. “Something got to Wash and Tex before we did.”   
“That can’t be good.”  
“We have to do something.”  
Church’s eyes widened. “We? What are we gonna do? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but everything we do tends to fail. Badly. Remember that blind double date thing we did?”  
“Don’t remind me.” He shuddered. “One year and one kid later I still can’t get the smell of that guy’s cigarettes off my old sheets.”   
“Exactly. Life sucks and so do we.”  
“We have to do something, they could be in danger.” He insisted.  
That took Church by surprise. “Since when did you get all heroic? You’re usually trying to avoid helping people.” He looked him over. “It’s because there’s a cute guy involved isn’t it?”   
“No! I just think we should help them.”   
“Sure.” He didn’t really believe him. “Look, I don’t care if you’ve got the hots for pigeon boy, but we’ll get ourselves killed. What good will it do them if we throw ourselves at something we can’t handle?”   
“I have my sword, we’re not totally hopeless.”  
“I don’t think that’s gonna be enough, Tucker. You barely know how to use that thing, and if it took Tex it’ll snap us like twigs.”  
Tucker thought for a minute before getting frustrated. “I don’t fucking know, Church. I really don’t. It’s not like a solution is just going to knock on the door and fix everything.”  
Just as he said that, there was a knock on the door. The two looked at each other for a moment. Maybe solutions would come right to their door. They both shrugged sync, then Church went to answer the door. “Not like this can get any worse.” He sighed.   
Behind the door was a towering man, definitely over seven feet tall. He said nothing, just stared down at Church with fierce, almost red eyes.   
“Can I help you?” He asked.   
From behind the stranger a great set of wings spread - the color of fresh snow dotted with little black flecks.   
“An angel? Oh holy shit maybe you can help us find Wash and Tex.” Church turned to Tucker. “For once Murphy’s law actually helps us out.”  
The blood had drained from Tucker’s face as he glanced at the feather on the table, then at the gap in the angel’s primaries. “Church…”  
“What?” Before he could get an answer, the man grabbed Church by his shirt and picked him up. “Son of a bitch!” He shrieked. “Put me down!”   
The man spread his wings, and in the blink of an eye he took off, leaving no trace behind him except Church's horrified, girlish screaming that was already fading in the distance.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i meant to post this yesterday, sorry

Tex landed at a nearby bar, having just left Wash to get a drink. She carefully tucked her wings into her jacket before heading inside. At the bar she ordered a double of scotch and put her head down while she waited for the bartender to pour it. It had been a long day. As soon as the drink was in her hand she knocked it back and ordered another.   
Someone sat next to her. “You come here often?” He asked.   
She rolled her eyes and lifted her head to chase off whoever was unfortunate enough to try to hit on her, but was met with a familiar face. “Oh, hey York.” She sighed. “Look, I’m really not in the mood for jokes right now.”  
“Ah, too busy sulking. I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say it has something to do with the Seer you’ve been chasing.”   
She nodded.   
“Still hasn’t noticed you watching his back?”  
“Oh, he definitely noticed me. I saved him _again_ , but this time I actually had to get involved. He saw me, and decided he wanted me to stay, so I did, and then he started remembering things. When he remembered who he was he got mad at me, yelled at me for lying to him, then kicked me and Wash out.”  
“That’s… that’s a lot of information to process.”   
“Aren’t you supposed to have the fucking triforce of wisdom or whatever to help with that?”  
“If you must know the Delta amulet was stolen. I was attacked and it was either the necklace or my life.”   
“No shit, who attacked you?”   
“South.”  
“Damn. That’s a dick move.”   
“I know, but back to your problems.” He ordered a manhattan before turning back to Tex. “Let’s start with a simple question: did you lie to him?”  
“Yes, but I did it to protect him. I thought it would be better if he didn’t remember everything they put him through to find those stupid artifacts.”   
“But you still lied to him.”   
Tex sighed. “Yes. I lied.”  
“And then you stormed out.”  
“Not quite, he punched Wash, yelled at me, told us to get out. I let my anger take over and then stormed out with Wash.”   
York took a sip of his drink. “So why not just go back and apologize?”  
“Are you kidding? I can’t do that.”  
“Why not? You clearly still love him, so why not apologize and let this pass?”   
“Because… because I don’t want to. it would be embarrassing.” She crossed her arms.  
“Of course, you can’t stand to swallow your pride.”   
“I didn’t say that.”  
“But you know it’s true, now one last question before you go do what you should have done in the first place. You said Wash was with you, where is he now?”  
She thought for a second. “Shit. I left him on a roof. I should probably-” She cut herself off and froze. “Shit. Something’s wrong.”  
“Spidey-senses tingling?”  
“Church is in trouble.”  
“Oh, shit.”   
They both paid their tabs and headed outside, where York revealed his own set of wings - those of a Mourning Dove. “I’ll go see if the rookie’s okay, you go find your man.”  
“Thank’s York. For everything.”   
“No problem, Allison.”   
They both took off into the sky, going off in opposite directions.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's been a real piping hot minute since i updated this fic, i've been busy finishing school and dealing with my two cutest distractions: two little kitties named Tucker and Dr. Pants (Doc for short.) If you want someone to thank for me updating this fic, thank my dad who found my this fic and said it was really good which had me shook when he revealed it but it turned out to be just what i needed to keep writing it.

Tex landed in front of an open front door, rushing in before she could even fold up her wings. “Church?” She looked around for him.   
Tucker ran out with his sword in one hand and his son in the other. “Tex?” He put the hilt back in his pocket. “What are you doing here? I thought that bald fucker got you!”  
“What bald fucker? What happened? Where’s Church? And why was your battle plan to hold your son while you fight?”  
“Alright, that was a lot of questions so I’ll answer them in order. First, the bald fucker is a bald, scary angel that we had assumed took both you and Wash. Second, said bald fucker took Church and flew away. I’m surprised you didn’t hear him shrieking like a teenage girl at her first horror movie. Third, no idea. And finally, it was less of a battle plan and more hoping that it would help while begging for mercy.”  
“Bald fucker _took Church?_ ” Her eyes widened. “Son of a bitch! This was exactly why I was trying to avoid him!”   
“Wait so you know who bald fucker is?”  
“Yeah, he’s kind of a byproduct of what was done to Church. He’s trying to find all the artifacts that the leader of our flock was collecting, and Church just so happens to be the key to getting all of those. Unfortunately that would involve a shit ton of pain and possibly him losing his memory again if it goes too far.” She looked out the door.   
“I know about all the torturing Church to find old junk, but why does he need Wash? What does he have to do with this?” It was hard to ask the question seriously since junior decided it was time to try eating his dad’s hair.   
Tex distracted Junior with one of her wings. “I guess Wash told you everything except that part. The reason Church lost his memory wasn’t because he repressed his entire life, it’s because he gave them all to someone else. Our leader would choose someone to get the artifact and Church would use some weirdo Seer magic so they would know exactly where it was without having to tell them, and Wash just happened to be the one he sent in after… you know. Anyways, Wash got stuck with every painful memory Church ever had, and I think Maine is hoping to use him as some kind of information receptacle so he doesn’t end up with bad memories.”  
“Oh shit, we gotta save them.”  
“No shit, Sherlock, leave the kid with someone and let’s get the fuck out of here.” 

Church was shaking as he clung to his captor. He didn’t really mind heights normally, just not when a seven foot birdman was dragging him at lightning speed across town. By the time they landed at an abandoned warehouse, he felt like he was going to faint. “Y-you put my down or i’ll kick your ass.” He tried to sound tough even though he looked like a giant chihuahua at the moment.   
Maine just made a growling sound and carried Church inside as he tried to struggle. Wash was tied up on the ground, his wings in worse shape than before. It was clear he wanted Wash to stay put.   
The brute eventually put Church down, but held him in place as he grabbed some rope to tie his hands behind his back. The whole time Church wiggled as much as his body would let him, but struggling just seemed to exhaust him without doing much to faze Maine.   
It wasn’t long before Church found himself completely immobile on the ground. “Wash, are you okay?  
Wash just looked over at him with dead eyes. “What does it look like?”  
“It looks like we’re gonna fucking die!” He tried a bit more wiggling. Maybe this time it would work.  
Wash just sighed. “It’s worse than that.” He watched as Maine left them to look over a table. “It’s so much worse.”  
“Oh god is he gonna eat us or something?”  
“What the fuck? No, he’s not gonna eat us.”   
“Then what the fuck is worse than him killing us?” His question was immediately as Maine came back with a cattle prod. “Oh I think I get it now. He’s going to fucking torture us!” His voice seemed to get higher with every word.   
“You.”  
“What?”  
“Not us, just you.”  
“What do you mean just me? That’s not fa-” He was cut off by his own screaming as Maine jabbed him with the cattle prod.   
Wash winced slightly. This wasn’t going to be pretty.


End file.
